Improvement in cotton-presses



Unirse PERRY e. GARDINRR,

FFICE@ oF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 31,796, dated March 2G,1861,

. To all whom, it may concern/f Around the center gudgeons of said nutsthe Be it known that I, FERRY G. GARDrNnR,of rods N and N' are capableof turning. Rollers New York, in the county and State of New York, haveinvented a new and Improved CottonPress, and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon.

Figure I represents a front elevation; Fig. II, a side `or end View; andFig. III, `a plan with the cotton box and lower platen removed.

Similar lletters represent similar parts.

The nature of my invention consists in the arrangement v andconstruction of a cottonpress in which the lower platen is moved upwardby means of levers operated by screws, said levers crossing and passingeach other in their motion, and so arranged that the mechanism shall becontained within the space occupied by the frame work of the press, ornearly in a space equal to the required length of the cotton-bale.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the frame of the machine orpress, the upper part of which is closed on the four sides to form abox, B, in which the piston or lower platen, C, works, being guided bythe sides forming this box, or said platen may be .provided withsuitable friction-rollers attached to the under side of said platen.`Above the frame A a box, B', is arranged, forming a continuation of thebox B, and constructed substantially in the manner and for the purposeas described in the patent granted. me on the Lith day of September,1860. 4 The boltsG G, which secure the top platen or top of this box B',are continued downward, and are secured there to two strong bars, H H,which support the bottom pieces, J, ofthe frame, by which arrangementthe two extreme ends, between which the strain is exerted, are firmlysecured together by said bolts.

To the movable bottom platen, C, two

rods, NV and N, are attached by ymeans of bolts u and a, `in lugsprovided in the center near the ends of said platen C. These rods N andN are bent in such a manner that while their top ends act upon thecenter line of the platen C their lower ends shall pass and be capableof crossing each other. To the lower endsof these rods nuts O and O' areattached.

P P are placed on these gudgeons m m', capable of turning freelyon thesame and working upon suitable rails or ways, R R and R' R', fast on theframe J. These rollers l? and P' support the rods N and N', and take theperpendicular strain away from the screws S and S.

Upon the frame J screwsS and S' are placed parallel to each other andturning in suitable bearingsm; and w', fast to said frame J. Thesescrews are connected together by wheels V and V', and the end of onescrew `is provided with a wheel, WV, to communicate motion to the same,and which said motion will be communicated to the other screw throughthe wheels V and V', which gear into each other. A second wheel maylikewise be placed upon the other screw, similar to the wheel W on the lother end of the machine, if it is desired to operate the press byhand-power.4 The nuts O and O' on the ends of the levers N and N areoperated through these screws S S'.

The operation of the press is as follows: The nuts O and O' are broughtby means of the screws S and S to the ends of said screws on oppositesides to each other, and so that the levers N and N' cross each other,through which operation,it will readily be understood, the upper ends ofsaid rods,and consequently with the same the bottom platen, C, is moveddownward, and said platen thereby brought into its lowest position. Theboxes B and B are then filled with cotton, and the top platen, T, whichforms the top of the box B', secured to the same by means ofthe bolts GG, whereby this top platen and thebottom frame, J, are firmly securedtogether. i

Motion is then communicated to the wheel W and screw S, and consequentlythrough the y wheels V and V', to the screw S in such a direction as tomove the nuts O and O', and with them the lower ends of the rodsN andN', toward and past each other until said rods N and N come in aperpendicular position, or ,y nearly so.

i n. ithat case provided with a right and a left handed screw-thread,each thread extending from the end until near the center ofthescrewshaft; but this arrangement and Construction requires thebottom bedor frame, J, at least twice the length of the length of a bale of.eotton, and Consequently nearly twice the length AI require by theabove-mentioned arrangement and construction.

I am aware that levers arranged so as to Cross and pass each other whileoperating the lower platen of a press have been before used, andtherefore do not claim thein'in and of themselves considered; but' NVhatI elailn as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement and combination of the right and left screws S S,pivoted nuts O O', and friction-rollers P P', resting on suitable ways,RR,attaehed to the frame J, when operating levers N NQ in the manner andfor the purpose substantially as described and set forth.

P. G. GARDINER.

Witnesses:

- T. G. VHEELER,

HENRY E. BORDER.

